The FileMaker Platform: An Introduction

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What is the FileMaker Platform?

The FileMaker Platform is a powerful rapid development toolset created by FileMaker, Inc., an Apple subsidiary. The platform allows users to quickly and effectively create, share and integrate custom business database apps that can be used on Mac, Windows, web browsers, and iOS devices. It can run on one machine, shared on several machines on a LAN, or served up on the internet. You can use it to create apps that are used by a single person, internally in an organization or accessed by users all over the world.

FileMaker isn't a toolset that students learn in a school classroom as part of a computer science curriculum. Most people stumble across it when they're trying to find a solution to a data management problem that either does not have off-the-shelf packaged software to handle it or has exceeded the confines of packaged software, spreadsheets and other data management tools. More recently, with the proliferation of SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions that can be accessed online from anywhere, the FileMaker platform is also proving useful as an extension to and/or a dashboard to integrate disparate web applications that use a common set of data.

For more than 30 years (since 1985 to be exact), which is a pretty long life for any software, the FileMaker platform has been used by people in organizations of all sizes to get things done their way. If you've never heard of FileMaker before, the best place to get more information about it and how it's been used in the world is on filemaker.com, the official website for FileMaker, Inc.

New Features in FileMaker 17

You can go to this page on FileMaker's website to get an overview of all the new features in FileMaker 17. We'll be writing more soon about how these features and the platform in general can help you make your workflow less costly and more efficient!